jeubank
New Member
- Reaction score
- 5
- Location
- Phoenix, AZ
Another series of Expanding Revenues - but utilizing your existing services that you offer. Quick history - I moved from Tucson to Phoenix - I did not have a whole lot of money to spend on getting my business started. I have kids + a wife. However, Working for someone else ive done and do not want to make someone else money. Now, 5 months later - I am on track to make 30K in 12 months if I do not increase the number of customers I am taking.
This article talks about how i did it through marketing, with less than $600 spent on my business over a period of 5 months. Including licensing / Website Hosting / Advertising / Parts.
The Free Advertising:
For those of you who have followed my Expanding Revenues, you may know about my post highlighting techniques through Craigslist. If not - Go there now - and stick with it. (some days you dont get a call, some days you get 3) Forum Post: http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27878
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Craigslist should not be discounted. Especially if your hurting. If you are not living the life you want - Ignore everyone who says they dont want those customers, that they are to time-intensive, or cheap. Craigslist has enormous power to put you on the map. The #1 Rule of marketing is to increase the use of empty capacity of a business. If you sit around 5 hours a day, You are not utilizing your skill set for money. Put it to work. Who cares if you charge $5. As long as you are still working. Making a impression, getting your name out there (remember. that customer who paid $5, might give you to 2 others who will pay your $120/hr rate (or whatever)).
Craigslist's secret - Its free, its used on a large scale - specific for every local demographic. I have had Gang Bangers call me for there stolen laptop they want to remove the password on (if you take those calls, its up to you. Its only illegal if YOU KNOW its stolen.. just play stupid. I prefer not to accept that work. But this isnt about me, its about YOU, and YOUR business), I have also had a Medium-Scale Doctors office with 5 locations call me for a simple fix, and I walk out of there with a contract for all locations.
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Local Businesses - Dont discount them. People normally do not get a response because they put generic ads in different businesses. Little Trade Secret for everyone :
Say you frequent a Chinese Restaurant (like me) because you enjoy the food. Staff / Managers know who you are. They always see you. They would be MORE Than happy to put your business cards out on display. Problem is, your business cards just say Computer Tech on them. Not going to work. Instead - REDESIGN 50 cards (use your own printer if you have to) - in color. Make it pop. Make it SPECIFIC to that business. For instance my specialized card reads : "You just ate a great meal. Now get a Great Computer Tech! Phone: 520-555-5555". Simple. Also has my logo on it. Its high-gloss photo paper, with bright orange / black colors. Those colors are not the colors of my theme or logo or website. However - Those colors stand out from outside the parking lot because they sit on a dark Granite counter when you walk in. You see those cards before you see the giant waterfall behind the counter. I know for a fact I have had at least 9 calls from that single restaurant because i either see the card on the customer's refrigerator or close by, or they tell me. It could be more. But for $8 of ink + paper.
Do it for oil change locations, Gas Stations ( a little harder.. corporations and all that) - And the Big one - NON PROFIT HIGH TRAFFIC LOCATIONS - YMCA's, Community Centers, Local Schools, Big Brother Big Sister. Each Advertisement custom tailored to that location.
You are probably saying - that is a lot of work. Well remember, you are sitting on your ass right now reading this, when you could spend another hour designing and placing effective business cards in target locations.
(No offense meant. Just trying to get you motivated)
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The Paid/Semi-Paid Advertising:
Radio Stations - Specifically a non-profit or small non-mainstread station. Do you have any skills you can provide for this company? I got this idea from a friend of mine who has a carpet cleaning business. He offers to clean there Carpets of a specific (actually large Rock Station) Radio Station for free.. In exchange, they drop a few kind words from DJs on the air with his number. He has never spent a dollar on his advertising. He does this for 3 different stations, and I sometimes catch his custom DJ advertisement when listening to talk radio. Goes a little something like this "Wow, I came in this morning, and our carpets are actually clean. This guy who does are carpets is amazing, his name is blah blah, and his number is 555-5555. If you arent using this guy for your carpets, your carpets arent clean. Wow" - Thats from the DJ himself. True story - if you dont believe me, PM me, i will give you his number and you can ask yourself.
I took it to the next level I like to think. A Non-Profit Rock Station in Phoenix (only 140,000 listeners... ONLY) - Had a god awful website. It was painful to look at. black background with neon green text, a convulated GUI for navigation, etc Now - I am a fantastic web developer. I know the tricks, good layout, PSD to HTML if need be, PHP for interaction, database development, graphic design (ya know a logo that looks good in color and in black and white during a photocopy. ya know - contrast)- However. I despise doing websites. I dislike working with someone and trying to figure out there dream through me, to reality. I just.. i dunno. Its not my thing. The other thing, they dont want to pay you what your worth. They want to maybe give you $250 for a $3000 job. BUT - when i went down to the radio station and said - I will build you a website that works, that you like, that will actually bring more listeners, or at least make them loyal (nothing like a repeat visitor who bookmarks your website, and increase ad revenue through the website through banners and what not. AND. I will do it for free - on the condition that i can leave my name on the bottom in small 8 point text, and you shout out my pc services whenever you like. Also - if they dont like it, dont take it. And dont advertise web design skills - cause i dont offer that.
They jumped all over it. There is nothing more pleasing to have a customer call me and say - I heard about you on the radio. I need blah blah. Plus, all it cost was my time / real effort (dont half ass it).
Google Adwords - Quick secret - Web-site companies like hostgator + 1&1 will give you anywhere from $50 - $150 of free Google Adwords credit by buying a domain or a hosting package. Hostgator is offering $100 right now. The total cost to get $100 of free Google Ad Words - cheapest package - for 1 month (you can cancel afterwords) is $8.39. BUT if you want to pay for it out of pocket, you can. (remember you just have to buy a hosting package. dont actually have to use it).
Google Adwords has the power to really deliver great results. However, to make it work is not easy. In fact, it is so difficult - some colleges have a course to take specific to Google Adwords. Its more than just the keywords you use, or the target city or whole country you select. It also depends on your own SEO (which it will help too), of your website, your competition, who pays the most per click, etc.
Now I dont know all the secrets - but I do know, not to use the "Google will decide the Price per Click payout". 1. It will bankrupt you, and 2. It may assign a high price per click for a keyword like "repair" which can mean literally everything.
Take your time. when you build your first campaign of say $200 for that month (which may have cost you $15.00 through hosting packages). You need to take about 4 hours to do it. Assign every keyword the payout / location you want manually. Combined Keywords of Computer Repair, or Virus Removal - you can put a higher price on. DO NOT PUT YOUR CITY AS A KEY WORD. OR EVEN YOUR STATE. You will get 1000s's of "impressions" which is, it flashed in front of there eyes but did not click. But you will get some clicks, and it will be expensive, and the ones who are clicks are not looking specifically for that service, there just searching for SOMETHING in that town. does you no good but cost money. Remember, when you launch your campaign you already decide where to put it. Keywords are not necessary.
You cannot build a brand on the internet without millions of dollars. The most you can hope for on our little budget is "dynamic yellow pages" they search for Computer Repair - you better be on the very top. Thats what you want. In Phoenix, I have to pay $5.91 to stay on top of everyone else per click. BUT. Those clicks are solid leads. They are looking for Computer Repair. All you have to do now is have a website that sells. Or convinces them to pick up the phone. $6 sounds like a lot, but more often than not - it results in a sale. I can see it through my traffic / sales.
____________________________________________________________
This is not an end all and be all of Marketing. But for hardly any money - I am making above the median income then the rest of the state - and i did it in 5 months. (plus i offer great service). I expect to pass 30K my first year, and i couldn't be happier. I generally have 3 hours of work booked every day 5 days a week. I also do weekends, but i charge more. I also do 3am calls for double ($200/hr) and a guaranteed 1 hour show up time. (got to love those emergency calls)
This article talks about how i did it through marketing, with less than $600 spent on my business over a period of 5 months. Including licensing / Website Hosting / Advertising / Parts.
The Free Advertising:
For those of you who have followed my Expanding Revenues, you may know about my post highlighting techniques through Craigslist. If not - Go there now - and stick with it. (some days you dont get a call, some days you get 3) Forum Post: http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27878
________________________________________________________________
Craigslist should not be discounted. Especially if your hurting. If you are not living the life you want - Ignore everyone who says they dont want those customers, that they are to time-intensive, or cheap. Craigslist has enormous power to put you on the map. The #1 Rule of marketing is to increase the use of empty capacity of a business. If you sit around 5 hours a day, You are not utilizing your skill set for money. Put it to work. Who cares if you charge $5. As long as you are still working. Making a impression, getting your name out there (remember. that customer who paid $5, might give you to 2 others who will pay your $120/hr rate (or whatever)).
Craigslist's secret - Its free, its used on a large scale - specific for every local demographic. I have had Gang Bangers call me for there stolen laptop they want to remove the password on (if you take those calls, its up to you. Its only illegal if YOU KNOW its stolen.. just play stupid. I prefer not to accept that work. But this isnt about me, its about YOU, and YOUR business), I have also had a Medium-Scale Doctors office with 5 locations call me for a simple fix, and I walk out of there with a contract for all locations.
______________________________________________________________
Local Businesses - Dont discount them. People normally do not get a response because they put generic ads in different businesses. Little Trade Secret for everyone :
Say you frequent a Chinese Restaurant (like me) because you enjoy the food. Staff / Managers know who you are. They always see you. They would be MORE Than happy to put your business cards out on display. Problem is, your business cards just say Computer Tech on them. Not going to work. Instead - REDESIGN 50 cards (use your own printer if you have to) - in color. Make it pop. Make it SPECIFIC to that business. For instance my specialized card reads : "You just ate a great meal. Now get a Great Computer Tech! Phone: 520-555-5555". Simple. Also has my logo on it. Its high-gloss photo paper, with bright orange / black colors. Those colors are not the colors of my theme or logo or website. However - Those colors stand out from outside the parking lot because they sit on a dark Granite counter when you walk in. You see those cards before you see the giant waterfall behind the counter. I know for a fact I have had at least 9 calls from that single restaurant because i either see the card on the customer's refrigerator or close by, or they tell me. It could be more. But for $8 of ink + paper.
Do it for oil change locations, Gas Stations ( a little harder.. corporations and all that) - And the Big one - NON PROFIT HIGH TRAFFIC LOCATIONS - YMCA's, Community Centers, Local Schools, Big Brother Big Sister. Each Advertisement custom tailored to that location.
You are probably saying - that is a lot of work. Well remember, you are sitting on your ass right now reading this, when you could spend another hour designing and placing effective business cards in target locations.
(No offense meant. Just trying to get you motivated)
______________________________________________________________
The Paid/Semi-Paid Advertising:
Radio Stations - Specifically a non-profit or small non-mainstread station. Do you have any skills you can provide for this company? I got this idea from a friend of mine who has a carpet cleaning business. He offers to clean there Carpets of a specific (actually large Rock Station) Radio Station for free.. In exchange, they drop a few kind words from DJs on the air with his number. He has never spent a dollar on his advertising. He does this for 3 different stations, and I sometimes catch his custom DJ advertisement when listening to talk radio. Goes a little something like this "Wow, I came in this morning, and our carpets are actually clean. This guy who does are carpets is amazing, his name is blah blah, and his number is 555-5555. If you arent using this guy for your carpets, your carpets arent clean. Wow" - Thats from the DJ himself. True story - if you dont believe me, PM me, i will give you his number and you can ask yourself.
I took it to the next level I like to think. A Non-Profit Rock Station in Phoenix (only 140,000 listeners... ONLY) - Had a god awful website. It was painful to look at. black background with neon green text, a convulated GUI for navigation, etc Now - I am a fantastic web developer. I know the tricks, good layout, PSD to HTML if need be, PHP for interaction, database development, graphic design (ya know a logo that looks good in color and in black and white during a photocopy. ya know - contrast)- However. I despise doing websites. I dislike working with someone and trying to figure out there dream through me, to reality. I just.. i dunno. Its not my thing. The other thing, they dont want to pay you what your worth. They want to maybe give you $250 for a $3000 job. BUT - when i went down to the radio station and said - I will build you a website that works, that you like, that will actually bring more listeners, or at least make them loyal (nothing like a repeat visitor who bookmarks your website, and increase ad revenue through the website through banners and what not. AND. I will do it for free - on the condition that i can leave my name on the bottom in small 8 point text, and you shout out my pc services whenever you like. Also - if they dont like it, dont take it. And dont advertise web design skills - cause i dont offer that.
They jumped all over it. There is nothing more pleasing to have a customer call me and say - I heard about you on the radio. I need blah blah. Plus, all it cost was my time / real effort (dont half ass it).
Google Adwords - Quick secret - Web-site companies like hostgator + 1&1 will give you anywhere from $50 - $150 of free Google Adwords credit by buying a domain or a hosting package. Hostgator is offering $100 right now. The total cost to get $100 of free Google Ad Words - cheapest package - for 1 month (you can cancel afterwords) is $8.39. BUT if you want to pay for it out of pocket, you can. (remember you just have to buy a hosting package. dont actually have to use it).
Google Adwords has the power to really deliver great results. However, to make it work is not easy. In fact, it is so difficult - some colleges have a course to take specific to Google Adwords. Its more than just the keywords you use, or the target city or whole country you select. It also depends on your own SEO (which it will help too), of your website, your competition, who pays the most per click, etc.
Now I dont know all the secrets - but I do know, not to use the "Google will decide the Price per Click payout". 1. It will bankrupt you, and 2. It may assign a high price per click for a keyword like "repair" which can mean literally everything.
Take your time. when you build your first campaign of say $200 for that month (which may have cost you $15.00 through hosting packages). You need to take about 4 hours to do it. Assign every keyword the payout / location you want manually. Combined Keywords of Computer Repair, or Virus Removal - you can put a higher price on. DO NOT PUT YOUR CITY AS A KEY WORD. OR EVEN YOUR STATE. You will get 1000s's of "impressions" which is, it flashed in front of there eyes but did not click. But you will get some clicks, and it will be expensive, and the ones who are clicks are not looking specifically for that service, there just searching for SOMETHING in that town. does you no good but cost money. Remember, when you launch your campaign you already decide where to put it. Keywords are not necessary.
You cannot build a brand on the internet without millions of dollars. The most you can hope for on our little budget is "dynamic yellow pages" they search for Computer Repair - you better be on the very top. Thats what you want. In Phoenix, I have to pay $5.91 to stay on top of everyone else per click. BUT. Those clicks are solid leads. They are looking for Computer Repair. All you have to do now is have a website that sells. Or convinces them to pick up the phone. $6 sounds like a lot, but more often than not - it results in a sale. I can see it through my traffic / sales.
____________________________________________________________
This is not an end all and be all of Marketing. But for hardly any money - I am making above the median income then the rest of the state - and i did it in 5 months. (plus i offer great service). I expect to pass 30K my first year, and i couldn't be happier. I generally have 3 hours of work booked every day 5 days a week. I also do weekends, but i charge more. I also do 3am calls for double ($200/hr) and a guaranteed 1 hour show up time. (got to love those emergency calls)
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